Tennis News

NEW YORK, NY, USA – Serena Williams has her work cut out for her to start the 2016 US Open. The top seed, aiming for a record-breaking 23rd Grand Slam title, plays Ekaterina Makarova in a rematch of their 2014 semifinal encounter. No.2 seed Angelique Kerber opens against Polona Hercog and is projected to have a tricky second round against either Alizé Cornet or Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.

Serena leads a loaded first quarter anchored by No.5 seed and Rogers Cup champion Simona Halep. Her projected opponents also included No.29 seed and former No.1 Ana Ivanovic in the third round, and 2011 champion Samantha Stosur in the fourth round. Stosur defeated Serena in that final, one of the American’s only two losses in Flushing in the last five years.

Halep’s early draw:
1R: Kirsten Flipkens
2R: Gavrilova/Safarova
3R: Babos
4R: Vesnina/Suarez Navarro.

Could face Serena in QF.#USOpen

— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) August 26, 2016

Kerber is slated to face 2015 finalist and No.7 seed Roberta Vinci in the quarterfinals, but not before getting through the likes of 2012 semifinalist Sara Errani and two-time Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova in the third and fourth rounds.

Muguruza is seeded third following a solid week at the Western & Southern Open; the French Open champion landed in Kerber’s half of the draw, with No.8 seed Madison Keys anchoring her quarter. The first seed that the Spaniard could face is Olympic Gold medalist Monica Puig, who defeated her just two weeks ago at the Olympic tennis event. Her fourth round opponent is projected to be Bank of the West Classic champion and No.13 seed Johanna Konta.

Radwanska rounds out the Top 4 seeds and is Serena’s possible semifinal opponent. The Pole could play two-time US Open champion and former No.1 Venus Williams in the quarterfinals, and has Caroline Garcia and Timea Bacsinszky in the third and fourth rounds.

Serena-Halep quarter: Brutal.
Aga-Venus quarter: Big opp.
Keys-Garbi quarter: Balanced.
Kerber-Vinci quarter: Petra/Domi could upend.

— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) August 26, 2016

Notable 1Rs: Kvitova-Ostapenko, Kuznetsova-Schiavone, Stosur-Giorgi, Halep-Flipkens, Konta-Mattek Sands. #USOpen

— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) August 26, 2016

Defending champion and recently retired Flavia Pennetta was on hand to help with the draw ceremony:

“I’m relaxed and retired! Every day’s a vacation” she joked with Chris Evert.

“I’d like to be involved in tennis; ir’s my life. It’s something that I really love, and maybe I can help coach a new generation to come out of Italy. It’s something I’ve always wished to do.”

Ciao @flavia_pennetta! pic.twitter.com/pssEqBTooj

— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) August 26, 2016

NEW YORK, NY, USA – Garbiñe Muguruza has had a season already defined by a breakthrough victory at the French Open, but inconsistencies elsewhere make the No.3 seed seem like something of an enigmatic factor – especially at the US Open, where she has won just one main draw match.

But the Spaniard cheerfully preached optimism at her pre-tournament press conference, emphasizing the importance of leaving last week’s disappointments behind her as she heads into the final Grand Slam of the season.

“Last year was a little bit tougher,” she said of her second round loss to future Top 10 contender Johanna Konta, “but I’m always positive when I go to a tournament. I always have, like, a new mindset. I’ve a new opportunity, and it’s a Grand Slam. I’m excited here. I love Grand Slams. I love New York. I’m looking forward to start and see what happens.”

It’s a mantra Muguruza has developed over time as she’s matured from the upstart youngster who stunned Serena Williams in the second round of Roland Garros to the seasoned champion two years later.

“More and more, it becomes clear that the Grand Slams are the tournaments where you have to kind of perform your best – or at least try. So when a Grand Slam is coming, you feel that you have to be more prepared. That’s the tournament.

“When you are younger, all the tournaments are like more equal or you’re more happy. Sometimes you really don’t know where you’re playing.

“Now over the years you realize, Hey, that’s the tournament I’ve got to be ready and hopefully win.”

Her two major finals have come on clay and grass, but the World No.3 is more than capable on hardcourts, taking impressive results from the Asian swing into a thunderous debut at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global. The next step for the Spaniard is to avoid the sort of lull in form seen at Wimbledon, where she fell in the second round to Jana Cepelova.

“When I went to play that match I felt, like, exhausted. Like I woke up that day like, ‘I have to play a match today. I feel tired.’ I think I learned more how to recover and concentrate my energy.

“Those matches are important ones, you know? Maybe I trained too much before or didn’t rest enough, or, I don’t know, there is something not balanced there that week.”

Balance will be key in dealing with the City That Never Sleeps, and the unrelenting traffic experienced by the players who opt to stay in the heart of the Big Apple.

“There is always traffic. There is always noise, people. I don’t know. Everything takes a lot of energy. It’s so crazy and they’ll say, ‘No, this is two blocks only!’

“I have to concentrate on time to rest, time for this, time for that – just schedule everything well. Priority is always to be rested so when you take a racquet, you know, you have energy to perform.”

NEW HAVEN, CT, USA – No.6 seed Petra Kvitova is back into the Connecticut Open semifinals for the fifth year in a row after defeating Ekaterina Makarova 6-3, 6-1 in exactly one hour.

Watch live action from New Haven this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

Kvitova and Makarova are quickly building up a fierce rivalry in 2016, with this match being their fourth encounter in 2016 alone.

Decidedly quicker than the last several matches they’ve played, which both went almost two hours long. In fact, it went a little more like the last time they played in New Haven, back in 2014, when Kvitova stomped past Makarova in straight sets in just 49 minutes.

“Maybe the court helped me,” Kvitova said. “Maybe, I don’t know, I was ready to battle again. Just knew that I had to be really focusing on each point.

“I think I played better here. I served better, for sure. I just think it was really, you know, helpful for me today. Couple of the matches which we played before today was always a little bit tricky. I think in each of them that I had chances to win it, but I didn’t really take it. Today I just played good match again.”

Kvitova and Makarova stayed toe to toe during the tightly drawn first set, with the lone break at 4-2 going the way of the Czech. She held on to the slight lead to take the opening set, then found an extra gear in the second, breaking three times and reeling off six games in a row to close out the match in exactly an hour.

With the win Kvitova is back in the semifinals of the Connecticut Open for the fifth consecutive time.

Despite the fact that New Haven has become her happiest of hunting grounds outside of her favored Wimbledon – winning three titles and reaching four finals in her last four appearances – Kvitova still can’t say what it is about this tournament that she loves so much. She just likes it here.

“I don’t know. I always looking forward to be here,” Kvitova mused in press. “I’m here. I just feel so relaxed. We always have our kind of restaurants and breakfast shop where we are going every morning, having just easy time. It’s easy to get here, like 10 minutes, not that much.

“I don’t know. I just feel everything, it’s so easy. Even the court. Of course with a lot of success that I have here, it’s better to play.”

Kvitova is set to face Agnieszka Radwanska for a spot in the final.